Ranker - Vote On Everything

Hi All,

A few days ago I came across a website called Ranker.  The site bills itself as a place for people to 'vote on everything'. 

What exactly is Ranker you ask? Good question, it is a leading digital media company for opinion-based, crowdsourced rankings on just about everything. They advertise that about 50 million people have generated over 300 million votes.

Okay..that all said here's the meat of the site.  They have dozens of lists (ranks) on topics like 'people', 'entertainment', 'sports', 'culture', 'channels' and 'videos'..

Typing in a phrase in the search box at the top right of the screen results in a list of results related to the search.  Lists with the most number of votes are ranked at the top of the screen.

For example, a search for 'puppies' and a list of 'The Cutest Mixed Dog Breeds' appears.   Other lists included 'Cutest Black Lab Pictures' and 'Cutest Boy Puppy Names'.  Pictures appear in each list and a brief narrative is included as well.

The number of votes that the pictures received is listed as well. 

Check out the site for some very entertaining and enlightening lists!

Enjoy the site!

Regards,
Stu










Users have the option of signing in to the site for free.

More Than Just Parks

Hi All,

I came across a wonderful website yesterday. Its called 'More Than Just Parks' and is dedicated to 'a visually stunning trip through America's National Parks'.

The goal of the project is to 'share the wonders of the national parks with as many people as we can'. Quite an admirable goal that's for sure.

Using short films, 'engaging online interactions and imagery the authors plan on creating films covering each park.' 

Click on this link for the National Parks that the authors have already covered.

Click on this link to go to the formal National Park Service website hosted by the US Government. 

And since the whole idea of this project is for folks to visit the various national parks, click this link to learn more about making reservations and/or visiting the various national parks.

Enjoy the links and the sites and the visits to these national treasures!

Regards,
Stu

New York Public Library Puts More Than 180k Images Online

Hi All,

Back in early January 2016, the New York Public Library made more than 180,000 of its public domain images available as high-resolution downloads for users.  

Users can download images of maps, documents and photo illustrations directly from the organization’s Digital Collections website without restriction.

The images were released along with changes to the NYPL Digital Collections website - basically the changes were meant to create a more user-friendly interface so users can find free content!

Which means....if you are interested in New York City images, you are more than likely interested in Farmingdale images.  Forthwith...the Farmingdale Public Library Digital Collection. Access is via the New York Heritage Digital Collections link.  This specific link will take you to the Farmingdale Public Library images in the collection. 

As if that were not enough, click on this link to read the NEW Farmingdale Public Library Local History Blog.  

And, finally, for those of you who are interested in the Farmingdale history or the history of the Farmingdale Public Library, click here. 

Enjoy the links and the memories and the history!

Regards,
Stu

Pixlr - Free Online Photo Editor

Hi All, 

So you have a phone - that takes pictures.  And you have a camera - that takes pictures.  Awesome.  Sometimes you need a free online photo editor to manipulate the image or images. 

And for whatever reason you don't want to use Google's Picasa.  That's okay - even if the Google guys don't like that...however there are alternatives. 

Welcome to Pixlr - the free online photo editor. 

Basically Pixlr is a free online photo editor.  Users can edit, adjust and filter images.  There is no registration required so users can dive right into using the software. 

Enjoy the site and editing your photos. 

Stu

Best of 2015

Hi All,

With the year 2015 drawing to a close, now is the time to check all the various 'best of 'lists that are coming out from various news sources, magazines, website, blogs and more.

Enjoy the links and the lists! Happy New Year.

Best 9 Instagram Pictures of 2015 

Best TV shows of 2015 

Best Movies of 2015

Best of the Best of 2015 List From Around the Web

Year in Search 2015

Top 10 Business Stories of 2015 - CBS News

Top 10 Business Stories of 2015 - MSN

Best 11 minutes in sports from 2015

Best weather bloopers of 2015

Best Books of 2015 - Amazon 

Best Books of 2015 - Publisher's Weekly 

Best Photos of 2015 - New York Times 

25 Best Albums of 2015 - Billboard 


Regards,
Stu

Internet Speed Tests

Hi All,

It takes bandwidth - think lots of fiber optic cables and such - to get your videos, chats, pictures, Instagram stuff and more to your house.  But how fast is my computer you might be asking?

Good question...there are lots of internet speed tests out there on the web.  Some might ask you to download software in order to perform the test...I prefer not to download software due to the spam/virus/malware threat that software downloads can create...

So...you might want to do an internet speed test using any of these free speed tests...
AT&T Speed Test
Test Your Broadband Speed
SpeakEasy Speed Test 
TestMy.net
Top Tips to Speed Up Your Internet Service

Enjoy the sites - hope your upload and download speed are really, really fast!

Regards,
Stu

Things You Can Do With Your Smartphone...

Hi All,

You've come a long way Mr. Smartphone.  No longer is the smartphone just capable of searching the web or getting email or texting.  Nope...its a whole new world out there of tools, scans, resources, fitness tools, note taking, voice operating tools and much, much more - as you'll see in this post. 

You probably know all this already...but if readers pick up even just one tip...well, then I can consider this post a success.  (But I am shooting for a bit more than just one tip being picked up by a reader!)

Mashable has a link  titled, 'Apps: 10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone'.  Check out #3 and #7...

Techrader.com has its own version of '10 Things You Didn't Know Your Smartphone Could Do' - article is current and interesting - check #6...you'll never need to look outside again for the weather - although that might be easier...

As if you didn't know already, there are a ton of fun things you can do with your smartphone - now this list has been organized for you in this article from Sooperarticles.com. Title of the article is 'Fun Things To Do With Your Smartphone'.

Not to be beat, Techlicious.com has come out with an article on '8 Things You Didn't Know You Can Do With Your Smartphone'.  (I had no idea about detecting leaky windows or that you can check your check engine light, or the fish finder!)

And, not to be outdone, USA Today - a mainstream newspaper - chimed in with an article as well.  They titled the article '5 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Your Smartphone'. Clever, eh?

Finally, we have a bevy of books in the library on how to use your smartphone! Click on this link which will link you to the Farmingdale library card catalog and books on the subject of smartphones!

Enjoy the links and the books and your smartphone!

Regards,
Stu

Taking Pictures of Your Kids

Hi All,

Now that summer is 'officially' over, school has started and the Fall is right around the corner.  With all that happening, there are sure to be lots of chances to take wonderful pictures of your kids (think soccer games, playgrounds, Halloween, playing in the backyard in a pile of leaves - yep...there are lots of different opportunities to take great photos). 

Click on the following links to take more awesome pictures of the little ones, young ones, toddlers, teens and more!

Cut the Cheese -  5 Tips For Photographing Kids - Digital Photography School
Photographing Children - Composition - Digital Photography School
Ten Way to Take Better Photos of Your Child - Lexar (esp suggestion #1, #5 and #7)
Tips From a Pro: How to Take Better Photos of Your Kids - PopPhoto.com
Three Tips for Taking Photos of Kids - Olympus
8 Tips for Photographing Uncooperative Children - ClickinMoms.com

So there ya have it...anybody can take even better pictures of their kids!  And now you know how to do it - without having to take hundreds of pictures in the hopes of getting 3-4 good pictures in the bunch!

Regards,
Stu

RefDesk.com

Hi All,

One of the better reference related websites available on the internet is Refdesk.com.  The site is eclectic - it has something for everyone as this blog post will attest to.

Refdesk has many, many useful features for users including options to check your email from a central location, a debt clock, Contacting Elected Officials, Job Search Resources, USA Gas Price Map, Headline News from Bing, Google, and Yahoo.  There is also a way to select a news source from either AP, BBC, Bing, Fox, Google, NPR, UPI, WSJ,  or Yahoo!. 


Users can search Yahoo! or YouTube from the homepage and also look for the Fact of the Day or Though of the Day or This Day in History.

Users can actually search Refdesk.com - use the search box on the left side of the page.  Users can also use TheFreeDictionary.com as a computing dictionary, medical dictionary, legal dictionary, financial dictionary or an acronym finder.

There are also People White Page Resources available to users.  For example, users can search 50States.com, AnyWho.com, Intelius.com, WhitePages.com.  There are also Reverse Phone Lookup sites and Reverse Address Lookup sites....sigh. 

And, finally, there are good news sites like Amazing News, Gallup Well-Being Index, Good News Broadcast,  and HappyNews.com.

What I just mentioned are just 'some' of the link from the top half of the homepage on RefDesk.com.  When I say that the site is eclectic and chock full of links, I am not kidding.

One last note...toward the middle of the page are various links under the rubric 'Today's Pictures'.  Trust me - this is awesome.  Link under this category are as varied as Botany Picture of the Day, Earth Images, Kodak, Latest Mars Images, National Geographic Photos in the News, Reuters Pictures, Top News Photos, Weather Photo Gallery and Webcam Index.

The pictures and photos are completely addictive so watch the hours flow by as if they were minutes!

Enjoy the site and the many, many links!
Regards,
Stu

Taking Great Pictures of Your Kids

Hi All,

So if you have kids, one of the things you'll want to do is take memorable pictures of them.  By doing this, you'll be able to look back at all the great times that you've spent with your little ones when they are, well, 'big ones'. 

This blog entry will discuss 3 websites that will help you learn to take better pictures of your kids.   I'll also link to the Farmingdale Public Library card catalog so you can find some excellent photography books to help you take even better pictures of your kids - from reading.

Brought to you by Lexar.com comes this site - entitled '10 Ways to Take Better Photos of Your Child'.  Neat stuff - I actually knew about numbers 1, 3 and 4 in the list...(Get Low, Let Them Be Themselves, Show them he Pictures on the Camera).  Had no idea about 7 and 9 (Get Close and Watching the Background).  Go figure...I bet I'll take better pictures already this weekend.

From a website called Digital Photography School comes this entry, entitled, 'How to Get the Best Shots of Your Kids'.  Some of DPS's ideas include 'Immerse yourself in their world and let your camera see what they see',  and 'Use reflections to captures yourself with kids and catch their expressions when they don't realize the camera is trained on them'.   Good stuff - and it is a doable skill for parents who want to take pictures of their kids.

Finally, the third site in today's coverage is an article from Pop Photo.com entitled, 'Tips From a Pro: How to Take Better Photos of Your Kids'.  This article covers concepts like framing the child and using the light to your advantage when you take pictures of the little ones.  The entry also discusses the use of vantage points when the children are playing sports like soccer, baseball and football. 

There are many, many other photography and photography related websites on the web.  Some are good - some are not so good.  Caveat emptor and readers of this blog should know by now that I'm a proponent of being skeptical when viewing and evaluating websites...doing a Google search for 'How to take great photograph's of children' resulted in many, many results.  Click on this link to see the massive results of the search. 

Now, that all said, sometimes it is useful to use a book so you can read and look at pictures that explain a certain technique....click here for a link to the Farmingdale Public Library card catalog for a search query of 'children's photography'. 

Enjoy the results and the great pictures you are about to take of your children.  

Regards,
Stu

Pictures - Take Them and Touch Them Up!

Hi All,

Now that we are entering the Spring and Summer season it is time to take photos! And what happens when you take photos that are, how shall I say it? Less than spectacular?

Easy! Just point that browser of your to Citrify.com! You'll be able to clean up the red eye, fix up a crummy complexion, touch up blemishes, erase wrinkle's and airbrush skin. Plus there is a lot more to do on the site like adjusting brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpening the photo.

Another really good photo site is Google's Picasa. Click here for the link to Picasa. Picasa is similar to Citrify - just old wine in a new casket. In other words, its the same but different - so give it a shot. But remember that it is a Google product. Click here for the 'Getting Started Guide' link to Picasa.

Finally, if you are interested in books that can help you learn to take better pictures and to edit them so they look even better than they already do, click here for a link to the library card catalog for books that deal with 'photo editing!

Enjoy the sites - happy photo editing.
Stu

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Today's Pictures

Hi All,


I'm in a photographic type mood today. And have I found a great bunch of sites for you! Regular readers might remember a site that I've mentioned before: refdesk.com...


Well, I can't very well talk about the whole site in shot because the site is so large. It would takes days and days to discuss each and every link and nook and cranny on the site.


But what I can do is talk about some specific sections on the site. In particular, since I'm in such a picturey mood today, I'd like to talk about the 'Today's Pictures' link on RefDesk.com.


So dear reader, click on this link to get to RefDesk.com - then scroll down about halfway down the screen and you'll see - in the middle - a section called 'Today's Pictures'. Bingo. Score!


So what is Today's Pictures? It is a set of links from sites as varied as astronomy, weather, National Geographic, TIME, Washington Post, Reuters and more. The topic? Anything the sites linked on RefDesk.com feel are 'picture worthy'. Users will find a whole bunch of science, nature, news, and weather pictures on RefDesk.com Neat stuff. Take a gander!


Enjoy the photos and remember, you can always bookmark RefDesk.com so you can come back to it at a later date.


Regards,

Stu



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Photos You Will NOT Believe

Hi All,

I just had to post this site for a blog entry. (I am very jazzed by this site!) I'll post again later in the day, but these photos are truly amazing. Nothing dirty or questionable...they are photos taken by winners of the Olympus BioScapes competition.

What is the Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition you ask? Excellent question...as Olympus says on the site (for more info click here), "Olympus America Inc. is in the eighth year of sponsoring a dynamic international photo competition that honors the world's most extraordinary microscoope images of life science subjects..."

Photos are unlike anything you've ever seen! Click here to see the them.

Enjoy and I'll see you a bit later today!
Stu

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